Unitl now there was concern in Labour ranks at the lack of a female challenger to take on the mantle Gordon Brown relinquished after the party’s election defeat.

Both Yvette Cooper and Harriet Harman have said they would not be standing.

Ms Abbott, speaking on Radio 4, said: “We need to speak to our supporters and speak to our members in a way that we are not speaking to them up until now.”

She said she is confident of getting the 33 nominations needed to register on the ballot paper, saying ‘I am attracting support not just from the Left but from women and other MPs that want to see a more diverse range of candidates’.

Ms Abbott, 56, was the first black female MP when she gained a place in the Commons in 1987.